Letter: Saved by the Swiss

Sir: While sitting in a hot pool in the Icelandic interior, a 100 miles from the nearest road, one of my companions noticed that a wound on my neck where a lump had been cut out some months previously had not healed up.

Since she was a doctor, she performed a minor operation with the scissors and forceps from her Swiss Army knife (Letters, 23 and 26 January), and removed the stitch that the surgeon had carelessly failed to notice when he took the others out.

As long as someone on your expedition has both medical qualifications and a Swiss Army knife, you will be safe against all eventualities

Yours sincerely,

OWEN WELLS

Ilkley, West Yorkshire